We have been abundantly blessed with 10 children, 5 of whom God has grafted in to our family by way of adoption. This blog is a testimony of God's faithfulness as we go through the peaks and valleys of living the abundant life together.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Beza has been home for almost one month already! We have been so busy I've totally neglected this blog...sorry. I thought I should post the pics. My mom and older sister also came to the airport that day so there were 13 of us there to greet her as she came up the escalator from the customs area. I think she was a bit overwhelmed but very happy too! Of course, Isabella took her right under her wing and now rarely lets her go anywhere alone, which has been such a blessing. Isabel is really great at making people feel comfortable. However, Beza is really really shy with Sergio and I.... kind of a nervous shy. The first few days she was home, we would hug her and have to coach her to hug us back. But now she comes to find me when I'm leaving the house, or at bed time and gives me a hug and kiss and tells me she loves me. She just started this week feeling comfortable to approach me with questions like, "Can I have a piece of my candy?" or "Can you correct my math?" so we are definitely making progress. She plays really well with all the kids and laughs and jokes around with them and although she is tiny for her age, she has no problem helping to keep the boys in line! We took the kids to Ethiopian dancing last month and Beza floored me when she got up to dance! Here I thought she would be too shy to dance, but she proved me wrong. She was doing the whole shoulder thing so well that an Ethiopian woman who's daughter was also at class commented to me what a great dancer she was! She has very little English so it is hard to communicate sometimes. She seems to feel uncomfortable when I say something she doesn't understand and I don't like making her feel uncomfortable so I have found myself only trying to say things I know she'll get. Just in the past few days I'm sensing that she's feeling a little more comfortable with us having to struggle to get our points across. One thing that has helped us bond is cooking. Every evening as I'm getting dinner ready Beza comes into the kitchen to help. And for those of you who know me, YES I said every evening as I get dinner ready, Sergio is down to just one employee and with the summer days being longer he is rarely home to cook anymore so the kids are stuck with me doing it!Nati and Ahbel are also doing really well. They have calmed WAY down to a point where I can function without needing to sneak into my room for a handful of M&M's every few hours! All the kids are just absolutely wonderful. I want to do individual posts on them so I won't take time to go into any further details now, but I will post a few pics.

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What you should know about HIV

-HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is not spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles).
-HIV is now considered a chronic but manageable disease. With treatment, people who are HIV+ can live indefinitely without developing AIDS and can live long and full lives.
-People who are HIV+ deserve to be treated with love, respect, support and acceptance as all people do. If anyone wants more info on transmission, there is great info on the Center for Disease Control website at
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets